NecessaryLies
by isthisreal247
Summary: This is set a couple of months after Kousei discovers that Kaori died. But is she really dead or was it necessary for her to leave for some other reason? In this fanfic, Kaori leaves because she has an illness that allows only minimal contact with people. Her parents want her to be safe, so she leaves but first they make sure everyone thinks she's dead so no one would follow her.


At last springtime was here; the flowers were blooming and the sun was shining, but the sky was monumentally lonely with the appearance of the clouds gradually ebbing with the passing of each day, and the day that the two met was imminent. The warmness in his heart from the remains of her impact on it, which came about partly to her white lie in April, still lingers deep in his soul, and its presence is greatly uplifting. And no matter how much he missed her, he never wished to press the reset button, but instead wished that he could somehow recall every beautiful smile and the feeling that enveloped his heart when she smiled. Her smile was like the end of the rainbow, the light at the end of the tunnel. Of course, her name was Kaori and his was Kousei. To him, it seemed she was his drive, his motivation in piano. Since that motivation was gone, he had stopped playing piano, until one crucial day…  
Chapter 1 "C'mon Kousei, we're going to be late for school!" Tsubaki shouted, but there was no answer.  
Kousei was sitting on a stool in front of the piano with his head on the piano keys. It was Monday, and Kousei had been trying to play piano all weekend with no luck. "It's too hard!" Hiroko Seto often heard him say, "It's too hard now that she's…gone." He'd often burst into tears when he thought about Kaori. Her instantaneous death had affected him drastically, and he compared his feelings about her death to a musical composition without musical notation, specifically Beethoven's Fidelio without its notation. "It's empty," he said, "and it leaves the pianist with nothing."

A lot of times, hearing Kousei cry was too painful for Hiroko to bear. As a result, sometimes she made an excuse to leave the house. She knew it was a pusillanimous move, but Hiroko had promised herself not to meddle with Kousei's life anymore. She had thought about talking to him about it, but finally decided that it would only end in disaster.

Tsubaki tried again, "Kousei, we've got to leave for school!" When he didn't answer, she decided to investigate. She checked every room in the house, except the piano room. She peeked inside the room. There was sheet music everywhere and there was one picture of Kaori on the wall right in front of the piano, right in front of Kousei's view. "Kousei," she said softly, "we've got to leave for school if we don't want to be late."  
What's the point?" Kousei said, "I'm not going to amount to anything anyway." Tsubaki opened her mouth to object, but Kousei spoke again "I passed up the chance of getting into that music school that I would have to move away to attend, and I can't play anymore. It's just impossible. I give up!"

Tsubaki searched for the right words to say. C'mon think! Think! Find them! Find them, for Kousei. "Hey Kousei, I know I don't know much about music, but I think… you should keep trying. Kaori…would have wanted you to, you know?"  
Kousei gasped. He choked back his tears and started talking, "You know, she was so frail and light, and she was scared. She had shared that weakness with me, Tsubaki, and I… I didn't comfort her like she comforted me. I looked into her beautiful blue eyes and saw that she was scared, really scared, and she told me," Kousei started to tear up, "that she didn't want to die. And I let her die… without telling her how I feel." Kousei was squalling now.

"Kousei, stop, stop crying. I can't stand seeing you like this, nobody can!" Tsubaki sat down on the stool next to him. "Listen Kousei, the sparkle in your eye when you practiced with Kaori was something I had never seen in your eyes before. I mean, you'd liked girls before, but I had never seen you look like that after meeting one. And when I heard your music, it touched me deep inside my heart like it never had before, and I knew something was different, something had changed. Even on your first performance with Kaori, I could sense a change in your heart through your music, a small change that was like a little light, hope that you might play piano again. I guess what I'm trying to say is that she knew you loved her. I knew you loved her." She paused and sighed, "Look I know this is a hard time for you, but I miss the old Kousei. The one that always cheered me up, you know? The dummy that never listened to me when I told you to leave me alone," she inched closer to him, "even when I really meant it." When I said I didn't care if you stayed, you'd stay next to me, and say that cheesy line 'If you want me to leave, then I'll just stay.' She laughed. "What's funny is that I never wanted to be alone anyway. You could always read me so easily, like you had the power to read my mind." Tsubaki thought, except you didn't realize I was falling in love with you. Then her smile faded and she looked down, realizing the truth- he'll always think of me as a big sister…

"Hey, what's wrong?" Kousei faced Tsubaki. The tears on his face were dry, and he immediately shifted his attention to Tsubaki.

"Nothing. What just happened with you? One minute I'm trying to comfort you," and failing at it, "and the next, you're asking me if I'm alright! Kousei, you can't be so nice when someone's trying to comfort you!"  
I can see right through you. You want me to be nice; you like it when I'm nice. Kousei thought. "You're like an open book," Kousei said, "I don't need a power to read you."  
Dumb Kousei, you don't say that to a girl when she's trying to comfort you, or a girl in general. But for some reason, it makes me blush, you make me blush- even when you say the most abnormal things.

"Hey could you move over a bit?" she asked.  
"Nope. I'm staying right next to you. I'm not moving, but I am listening."  
"Kousei, I don't want to talk right now." I can't tell you anything: It's too painful to repeat, knowing that you'll never think about me the way I think about you.  
"Well then, I'll wait until you're ready. Ok?"  
"That might be a pretty long time."  
"I'll wait. I mean, just think about it. How many times have you been there for me?" Then Kousei started to play piano, and the sound touched Tsubaki's heart more than before because this time, the gentleness with which he played the piano was directed toward her.  
Tsubaki spoke up, "So, I guess I did a pretty good job with my 'comfort talk', huh?"  
"Well, you were pretty bad at…"  
"Oh, shut up Kousei! It's not like you could've done any better!"  
"Well…" Kousei started to speak, but Tsubaki glared at him and made fists with her hands. She shouted, while devil horns seemed to appear on her head and her eyes seemed to turn black, "Is there something you'd like to say!"  
Suddenly, Kousei froze on the spot. "Nothing. It'll never happen again, I promise."  
"Good. That's what I thought."  
"Geez, it was just a jo…"  
This time her voice sounded demonic, "Aren't you supposed to be playing piano?"  
Kousei sighed and started playing. After about ten minutes, he paused for a moment and looked at Tsubaki. She was staring outside at the sunrise. "You know… sometimes I feel like Kaori is rising with the sun, watching us and making sure we're safe…I think she still lives on somehow in our hearts." Tsubaki said.  
"Yeah, I feel the very same way." Kousei responded. She's like the piano keys: I couldn't hear them, but I knew they were there. I just needed someone to help me let go of regret and… grief.

Sorry guys we'll get to the better stuff later, but I just needed to set the stage. I wrote this a year ago, I think. Then, I edited some of it recently. I don't really know if I'm going to continue the story, but I have some good ideas. I hope this wasn't too horrible. If you want me to make another chapter, post a comment or review. I'll accept all feedback too! Anyways, I might be uploading another story for Legend of Korra, so keep an eye out for that if you're interested. Anyway, peace out. 


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